Mark Drakeford on facing ‘bleak moments’ of pandemic, finding support and devolution
The First Minister says there were ‘difficult and bleak’ moments as he had to make life or death decisions at the height of the pandemic.
Speaking to ITV Wales, Mark Drakeford said there were situations which he cannot forget - particularly reading advice about who doctors would prioritise to treat. ‘’I never expected a weekend staring at advice about how doctors would decide which people they would treat and not be able to treat if the NHS couldn’t cope with coronavirus patients. Thankfully we never reached that weekend. That weekend sticks in my mind.’’
As First Minister, Mr Drakeford has been at the forefront of decision making - but it hasn’t been easy. A year which he expected to be dominated by Brexit and the final year of the Senedd term, turned out very different.
‘’It’s been a difficult year for everybody, a distressing year. We had a cabinet meeting here in February where the Chief Medical Officer reported the virus was definitely in Europe and we should now prepare ourselves that it was going to arrive here.
‘’The seriousness was such that we needed to meet after. We pulled together a few of us - including the health and education minister, to think ahead.’’
Having a wealth of information did not mean straight-forward decision making - the situation was fast moving. At the start of February there were no cases in Wales, but by the end of the month the first case was reported in Wales after holidaymakers returned from abroad.
Only a couple of weeks later the first death was confirmed in Wales.
For the First Minister, the most difficult choice was making sure everything was in place in the early days, and said the first lockdown was ‘inescapable’.
‘’The crisis in care homes is a regret’’
Mark Drakeford says it was important that they didn’t ‘chase headlines’ and believes that he and the Welsh Government dealt with the situations as best as they could with the knowledge they had at the time. He says he has some regrets - but lessons have been learnt.
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‘’I’m never on my own’’
Mark Drakeford sees himself as an ‘ordinary citizen’ who faced the same difficulties as the people he serves in Wales - he himself admits he has lost people to coronavirus.
‘’We’re just ordinary citizens in Wales - My wife and mother, we’re on the shielding group and we had to take measures to make sure I wasn’t posing a risk to them. Those conversations were going on in every household in Wales.’’
Much like everyone else, it’s the support from those around him that has pulled him through - in and out of politics.
‘’I’m very lucky, I’m never on my own. I talk to others, share views, recognise there are times people who you have to draw on when you normally wouldn’t need to. I’ve got to be able to look at myself in the mirror the next day knowing I made the best decision - not always the most popular decision but that gives you the strength to carry on.’’
First Minister says both his mother and wife fell ill with Covid-19
Wales' First Minister reveals he is living in a garden hut to protect his shielding wife ______________________________________________________________________
Devolution and the challenges ahead
Since the pandemic, there have been renewed calls for Welsh independence as the first minister took decisions that didn’t mirror the situation in England, Scotland or Ireland.
After the initial lockdown, the Welsh Government decided to extend a national lockdown and travel restrictions were in place until July to slow the spread of the virus. Moves which ‘woke’ people up to devolution.
‘’Some people have woken up to devolution despite the fact it's been around for 20 years. Never in my view were we trying to show off. There’s still a lot of work to do.’’
Looking ahead, Mark Drakeford believes there is a ‘glimmer of hope’. He praised those society depends on and hopes lessons will be learned to make ‘life better’.
‘’The people we depended on were the people who put themselves in harm's way. I don’t want to go back to normal. It wasn't good enough. I do hope to try and capture what we have learnt to make life better. We find better ways of working - I hope I will never travel to London again, three hours to get there for an hour meeting I can do just as well on a Zoom call.’’